Returning players from '04 Olympics vow to get it right this time

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Dwyane Wade could have brought up his NBA championship ring or the MVP hardware he brought home from the finals. In this company, though, he knew those would do him no good.

At a recent gathering in Chicago, Wade found himself in the presence of Michael Jordan and Gary Payton, a great champion and one of the league's renowned trash talkers. They had something to hold over Wade's head, and they were all too happy to make sure he knew it.

Jordan and Payton both own multiple gold medals. Wade has none.

"I couldn't even say nothing," Wade said. "They're talking about their gold medals and I just put my head down and listened, because I've got to get one first."

So instead of taking the summer to relax after leading the Miami Heat to their first NBA title, Wade will spend the next month in Asia, trying to help the United States win the world championships.

And, in what may have seemed shocking two years ago, so will LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, who shared the mostly miserable experience with Wade at the 2004 Olympics.

Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Lamar Odom were the other players who agreed to come back to join the national team, but none are available for the world championships in Japan. Stoudemire and Marion have lingering knee injuries, and Odom pulled out following the recent death of his infant son.

All remain eligible for spots on the 2008 Olympic team.

By the time the Americans left Athens following three losses, their medal was bronze, and their reputations weren't too shiny, either. Booed overseas, unappreciated at home and frequently criticized by coach Larry Brown, some vowed they wouldn't play international ball again.

But along the way, Wade changed his mind. So did his current teammates who were there with him.

"I think before the last game ... everyone was probably saying, 'I'm not coming back,'" Wade said. "But once we played and won the bronze medal game and saw how fun it was to play together and win, I know us young guys said we'll be back.

"If one comes back, we all come back and that's what we did. Myself, LeBron, Carmelo, Amare, we all came back together."

None of those four was originally supposed to be in Athens. Wade, James and Anthony had just completed their rookie seasons, Stoudemire his second year, and none was older than 22. But when USA Basketball had to scramble to fill out a roster after a number of withdrawals, it turned to a few players who ultimately weren't ready yet.

"First of all, they were replacement players," USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said. "And they were too young and inexperienced, and they were thrown into an experience where it was just too much. These were young kids thrown into that circumstance."

Accustomed to playing major minutes and winning far more than they lost - Anthony and Wade had played in the Final Four and James won a high school championship a little more than a year earlier \u2014 they became frustrated when neither happened with the usual frequency in Athens.

It didn't help that they were playing for a coach who has always preferred veterans. Since they joined the team so late - Wade and Anthony were added a month before the Games - Brown never fully grew comfortable with them, and the players had only minimal impact.

But if the quartet had any reservations about suiting up for the team again, they were erased after discussions with Colangelo, who said of their time in Athens: "The bottom line is it was not a positive experience."

"Basically they shared with me their experiences and I took the initiative to reassure them that it was going to be anything but that," Colangelo said. "And so I think they bought into what I was telling them."

There are early signs that the U.S. has a real chance to reclaim its old spot on top of the basketball world. In their lone exhibition game on home soil, the Americans overwhelmed Puerto Rico 114-69 Thursday night in Las Vegas, using a sensational defensive effort to overcome a slow start. No player seems to have undergone more of a transformation than Anthony, who led the Americans with 18 points Thursday.

Only 20 at the Athens Games and barely a year after leading Syracuse to a national championship as a freshman, he stewed and sulked while languishing on the U.S. bench - and didn't even get off it in one game.

"I don't really know what was going through everybody's minds at that point in time," he said. "But me, the reason why I was so emotional, I didn't want to lose. I'm so competitive. I want to win."

His inclusion on this roster came as a mild surprise to people who thought USA Basketball, concerned with players' past actions, wouldn't consider going back to him again so soon.

But Anthony has emerged as a leader on this team, with coach Mike Krzyzewski saying that no player has worked harder. Anthony said he also heard encouraging words from his Denver Nuggets coach, George Karl - who is often demanding of his superstars - after he watched practice one night earlier this week.

"He said he was just proud," Anthony said. "Proud of me being out here, being a leader, working hard, making everyone else work hard."

Now along with his two star classmates from the 2003 draft, Anthony should have a major role as the players try to make up for one of the few bad basketball experiences they've had to endure.

"Since 2003, that's the only thing that really went bad so far in my life, was losing in the Olympics," Wade said. "But with that experience it made me stronger, it made me really realize the things that I had here and set goals. Now I want to add that to my resume, winning a gold medal."

There's one more thing the young returners need to fix.

While American fans recognize James as one of the NBA's biggest superstars, there are plenty overseas who might know of him only as the guy who averaged a measly 5.4 points for a team that was just 5-3 in the Olympics.

He plans to leave a more lasting impression this time.

"I don't like to lose," James said. "I've got a lot to prove to a lot of people, the world."